Bolero, the online platform and rulebook for electronic trade finance transactions, has signed an agreement with the Beijing-based China International Electronic Commerce Centre (CIECC).

Under the agreement, CIECC will provide Chinese exporters with access to the BoleroAdvise trade finance portal that claims to cut the time needed to process letter of credit (L/C) advices and increase the accuracy of documents presented to banks for payment.

Uniform view

The aim of the agreement is to provide exporters working with CIECC with the ability to receive all their L/C advices on the same platform and in the same format regardless of the identity of their advising bank.

The announcement follows Bolero's recent joint initiative in Hong Kong with Tradelink, which for the first time provided exporters with a single, unified view of all their outstanding L/C advices. (DC World News, 3 February 2005).

China trade efficiency

Founded in January 1996, CIECC is an agency affiliated with China's ministry of commerce. Its mission is to enhance trade efficiency, simplify trade procedures and reduce the cost of international trade for exporters.

The agency has around 800 staff with offices in nearly one hundred cities across China serving importers and exporters with a range of integrated electronic services.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.